Gardner drove in the go-ahead score with an RBI-single with two outs in the top of the seventh inning to lift the Bulldogs to a 5-4 win over Swansboro in the semifinals of the Touchstone Energy Baseball Classic at Richlands High.

Dixon (9-3), which won the tournament from 2009-11, will play Croatan tonight at 7 p.m. in the final. Croatan beat Jacksonville 3-1 in the other semifinal.

“It just feels good,” Gardner said of being in the final. “The guys on this team know how to play.”

And the Bulldogs know how to win. They will look for their fourth Touchstone Energy title tonight against a Croatan team that’s in the final for the first time.

“It’s always big when you play for a trophy,” said Dixon assistant coach Nick Raynor, who spoke for head coach Jack Brown, who declined comment. “We take it one pitch at a time and one game at a time. Hopefully we will carry it out (today) and for the rest of the season.”

Meanwhile, Swansboro (8-3) will play Jacksonville today at 4 p.m. for third place.

“Give Dixon credit. They did a good job with two outs and two strikes,” Swansboro coach Rusty Ross said. “The kid who drove in the go-ahead run had two strikes.”

That kid would be Gardner, Dixon’s third baseman.

He singled down the third-base line to score pinch runner Garret Fayne, who was running for winning pitcher J.P. Padgett, who reached on an error to lead off the top of the seventh.

“It was a curveball right down the middle,” Gardner said. “I knew I had to get the run in and I knew J.P. would hold the lead. I felt great (when Gardner hit it). I knew it was through the hole.”

Raynor called Gardner a “dependable” player.

“He has come around and he has been really solid,” Raynor said.

Padgett then pitched a perfect bottom half of the inning to record his third win in as many decisions. Padgett allowed four hits, two earned runs and struck out 13.

“J.P. pitched well,” Raynor said. “He’s a competitor and he put it in another gear.”

Three Dixon errors in the first inning led to a pair of unearned runs for the Pirates. However, Swansboro then took a 4-1 lead when Jordan Behan singled in two runs in the second.

“I thought Padgett got stronger as the game went on,” Ross said. “This was a tough game against a really good team.”

Croatan 3, Jacksonville 1

Croatan right-handed pitcher John Ferry was on his game against Jacksonville. Ferry allowed just one run in a complete-game effort to lead the Cougars to a win over the Cardinals in the semifinals.

Page 2 of 4 - He scattered eight hits and struck out five as Croatan (6-4) advanced to the final.

“Everything was working,” Ferry said. “My defense worked hard and did a good job.”

The Cardinals (8-4-1), last year’s tournament champions, had a hard time getting to Ferry until the seventh inning.

“Their pitcher did a great job,” JHS coach David Fleischer said. “He mixed things up with his curveball and kept us off-balanced.”

Jacksonville made things interesting in its final at bat. Christian Heisey, who led off with a double, scored on a single by David DiCicco to make it 3-1. The Cardinals then had runners on first and second with no outs, but couldn’t do any more damage.

“The ball wasn’t coming out of my hand,” Ferry said.

That’s because Ferry had things in control.

“He was hitting his spots,” Croatan coach Sean Coley said. “The umpire had a wide strike zone. When you have that, it makes it hard for get a piece of wood on it. Our defense also played great.”

One Croatan defensive play for in particular came in the sixth. Jacksonville had runners on second and third with two outs when second baseman Hunter Woodside made a diving stop of a ground ball and got the third out at first.

“That was just a great play,” Ferry said.

Heisey and DiCicco each went 3-for-4 for the Cardinals. Taylor Wright gave the Cougars all their needed scoring with a two-run double in the first.

Richlands 7, White Oak 3

Heath Scurlock’s two-run single with two outs in the top of the fifth inning helped Richlands pull away from White Oak in a losers’ bracket game.

The Wildcats trailed 3-1, but loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth to set up Scurlock’s hit that tied the game. Richlands then scored two more runs in the stanza off two Viking errors.

The Wildcats (9-3-1) will play Northside today at 1 p.m. for fifth place while White Oak (2-12) will play Southwest at 10 a.m. for seventh place.

“We still have to make in-game adjustments better,” Richlands coach Jeff Sprenger said. “It took us until the fifth inning to stay back and put a barrel on the ball.”

Scurlock, the winning pitcher, finished 2-for-4 while Ethan Horne was 2-for-3 with a triple and a home run for the Wildcats. Horne’s homer to lead off the seventh gave the Wildcats a 6-3 lead.

Walter McClendon went 2-for-3 for the Vikings.

“It was the same as (Monday). One bad inning hurt us,” WOHS coach Pete Mayberry said.

Northside 10, Southwest 9

Northside scored eight runs in the top of the first inning and then held off a furious Southwest rally as the Monarchs won in the losers’ bracket.

Page 3 of 4 - Northside (2-10) will play Richlands today at 1 p.m. in the fifth-place game. Southwest (1-8) will play White Oak today at 10 a.m. in the seventh-place game.

“Wins are always good,” Northside coach Dustin Johns said. “It’s good to get a win. We are focus on improving and today we improved.”

The Monarchs took advantage of five first-inning errors by the Stallions to go up 8-0 after their first at bat. Zach Robinson had a run-scoring double and Dawnoven Smith had an RBI-single in the first for Northside.

But Southwest answered with five runs in the bottom of the first. The Stallions then got to within 10-9 in the seventh, thanks to a solo home run from Cole Jones and an RBI-grounder by Nick Matics, but couldn’t tie the game.

“We got down early…, but I am proud of the guys for not giving up,” SWO coach Charlie Dempsey said. “We were still fighting. We just need to fix our mental mistakes and errors.”